Belgium is a young, quality team with great players, and they created some terrific chances to score goals. I give credit to the United States defense — Tim Howard obviously made some incredible saves — but the defense did their best to make those shots on goal for Belgium either bad angles or challenging shots. Despite losing 2-1 in extra time, we certainly didn't make it easy for Belgium.

Howard is an incredible player who has had an unbelievable career. That performance is the kind you can expect out of him — a record-setting one. He's provided us with comfort back there for quite a long time, and it was sad to not see him rewarded on Tuesday.

But in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, we'll have higher expectations. As MLS continues to grow and the academy system continues to grow, expectations will continue to grow — and they should. Getting out of the so-called "Group of Death" was a challenge, and if doing that didn't exceed expectations, it certainly met them. So we can't be too upset with this World Cup.

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But U.S. coach Jurgen Kilnsmann preaches a proactive high-possession style of game, and I don't think we saw enough of that through the tournament. We're better than what we showed, individually and as a team. I don't want to take shots against the team, because it's a lot different when you're in the game and it's moving 100 mph. But it seemed we were always on our back foot, and scraping for possession, and afraid of being in tight spots on the field. We could have done a better job of taking the game to Belgium and keeping more possession to keep pressure off our defense.

Watching how the U.S. played after they went down two goals and asking, "Why didn't they play this way the entire game?" That's a natural reaction. Belgium started hunkering down once they went up, and we started taking risks. But we couldn't have played that way the entire game. When the U.S. chances came up to score, the team was extremely exposed in the backfield with few players — which could have turned disastrous over an entire game.

Even though the U.S. won the possession battle 54 percent to 46 percent, that can be misleading: You also have to consider the quality of that possession time. If the ball's always between your center-backs and your goalkeeper, you're not very threatening. When you can't work it out of your own part of the field, possession time is not working in your favor.

But the U.S. came close in stoppage time in regulation when U.S. striker Chris Wondolowski missed a wide open chance. I'm sure he wants to have that shot on goal back (even though it might not have been counted for a possible offside). That's why he's on the field, for those situations where he doesn't get the first ball, but the second ball gets to him and he's on point to put it away.

And like many, I certainly doubted Julian Green's selection to the World Cup roster, but the 19-year-old ended up scoring the only goal of the game for the U.S. He didn't appear to show much in qualifying or in the games he played as a substitute. But the run he made on the goal was unbelievable, and it's that type of movement off the ball that separates him as a special player, and that's what U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann has seen Julian do in his time with his club team that a lot of people haven't.

The U.S. clearly missed Jozy Altidore. The team seemed stretched with its subs. He provides a whole new aspect of the game by getting behind defenses and opening up their players on the field. His presence might have helped us play more aggressively, maintain better possessions and spread the field out more.

Ultimately, Belgium got the ball in dangerous areas on the edges, and their special players did special things by beating our players with speed, moving off the dribble or getting themselves where U.S. defenders were facing their own goal. And when you're facing your own goal, you're at the mercy of the other team. That's not where you want to be. The U.S. did such a good job defending crosses, and Tim Howard did such a good job saving goals that it didn't really show how good Belgium really is.

Rapids midfielder Dillon Powers is providing updates periodically during the World Cup in collaboration with Daniel Petty. He was named the MLS rookie of the year in 2013 and was a part of the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard of the United States looks on during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Round of 16 match between Belgium and the United States at Arena Fonte Nova on July 1, 2014 in Salvador, Brazil. (Jamie McDonald, Getty Images)

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